Braising is a combination of baking and stewing. Really the
braising-pan should hold hot coals on the top as well as be surrounded
with them, and a tightly-covered vessel set within the ashes of a wood
fire, with embers covering the top, would furnish an ideal braise. It
is a capital way of cooking when there is only the hearth available,
for the piece of meat is put inside the deep pan, with a little fat
but no water, and the cover is put on and fastened down, the whole
thing being smothered in hot ashes or embers. It can be left for some
hours, and may be set aside to become cold before opening the pan. A
large piece of meat braised would take four or five hours to cook well.
A leg of pork, for instance, covered with a little fat taken from the
breast, cooked in this way is delicious; so, too, is a leg of mutton.
The braising-pan may be of iron that is enamelled or merely tinned
inside, or of glazed earthenware. The difference between a braise and
a stew is that for a stew the meat is cut up in pieces, vegetables are
usually added, with seasoning and a little water to make gravy, and
long cooking in a corner of the oven is necessary, while for a braise
the joint is left whole, vegetables are generally omitted and the pan
is buried among the ashes.